The James Logan Courier

By Billy O'Keefe
McClatchy-Tribune (MCT)

Five "Prince of Persia" games in seven years after three in the preceding 14 has taken the franchise from nowhereville to sequel city in a hurry, and "The Forgotten Sands" does itself no favor by abandoning the dramatic visual and narrative makeover that made the 2008 reboot such a pleasantly fresh surprise.

"Sands" instead is a direct sequel to 2003's "The Sands of Time," which provides the basis of the "Persia" film currently in theaters (and, consequently, should answer whatever questions you had about Ubisoft ditching that reboot and rushing "Sands" out 17 months later).

Early on, "Sands" feels less like a sequel to "Time" than a capable but uninspired imitation of it. It plays like a typical "Persia" game, mixing some ambitious environmental platforming with sword combat that's more fun than special. Per series tradition, the massive traversable environments — ledges, trapeze swings, poles, cliff sides — feel like gigantic environmental riddles more than simple action game playgrounds, and the game uses an assisted character movement scheme that doesn't hold players' hands but also doesn't require angle-perfect precision jumping. As with "Time," and per story dictation, players eventually receive a limited-use ability to rewind time and correct mistimed jumps without reverting back to a checkpoint.

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

Despite being forced by the state to make yet another round of budget reductions, the New Haven Unified School District will be able to reduce a planned increase in class sizes in kindergarten through third grade in 2010-11, saving the jobs of more than 40 teachers, according to the spending plan that will be presented Tuesday night to the Board of Education.

Pending Board approval, the District also will be able to retain transportation for middle school students for 2010-11 and postpone for one more year the planned elimination of stipends for after-school activities, until 2011-12, Superintendent Kari McVeigh said.

From wikipedia:
Adah Isaacs Menken (June 15, 1835 – August 10, 1868) was an American actress, painter and poet.

She was born Adah Bertha Theodore in New Orleans to a French Creole mother and a Free Negro father, Auguste Theodore. She danced as a child in New Orleans, Havana and Texas. Eventually she worked in San Francisco. Menken was known for her poetry and painting, though both were poorly received. In 1859 she appeared on Broadway in the play "The French Spy. Once again, her work was not highly regarded by the critics. The New York Times described her as 'the worst actress on Broadway'. The Observer said "she is delightfully unhampered by the shackles of talent".


Read more about Adah Menken, free from sfmuseum.org.